This famous passage from 1 Corinthians about love is often quoted in sermons and at weddings. While love is certainly the foundation of a marriage, that is not really what Paul is talking about here. In previous chapters, he has been talking about a new kind of community, and the building of the body of Christ. Just prior to this, he mentioned a list of gifts from the Spirit. Now, he is explicit about the thing which should come before those gifts: love. God is love, and the Spirit is God. Any gift of the Spirit must be grounded in that reality.